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In a thin film of a solar-energy material, molecules in twin domains (modeled in left and right panels) align in opposing orientations within grain boundaries (shown by scanning electron microscopy in the center panel).

A unique combination of imaging tools and atomic-level simulations has allowed a team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to solve a longstanding debate about the properties of a promising material that can harvest energy from light. Th...

From left, Radu Custelcean and Neil Williams of Oak Ridge National Laboratory used a solar-powered oven to generate mild temperatures that liberate carbon dioxide trapped in guanidine carbonate crystals in an energy-sustainable way.

Chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a practical, energy-efficient method of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from air. They report their findings in Nature Energy. If deployed at large scale and coupled to geo...

After a monolayer MXene is heated, functional groups are removed from both surfaces. Titanium and carbon atoms migrate from one area to both surfaces, creating a pore and forming new structures. Credit: ORNL, USDOE; image by Xiahan Sang and Andy Sproles.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory induced a two-dimensional material to cannibalize itself for atomic “building blocks” from which stable structures formed. The findings, reported in Nature Communications, provide insights that ...

Plants in the warmest of several study areas at the SPRUCE experimental site remained green and functional up to six weeks longer than plants growing at ambient temperatures. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A futuristic experiment simulating warmer environmental conditions has shown that peatland vegetation responds to higher temperatures with an earlier and longer growth period.

The sensors measure parameters like temperature, chemicals and electric grid elements for industrial and electrical applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Brixon, Inc., has exclusively licensed a multiparameter sensor technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The integrated platform uses various sensors that measure physical and environmental parameters and respond to standard security applications.

New research about the transfer of heat—fundamental to all materials—suggests that in thermal insulators, heat is conveyed by atomic vibrations and by random hopping of energy from atom to atom.
A discovery by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory supports a century-old theory by Albert Einstein that explains how heat moves through everything from travel mugs to engine parts.
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StealthCo, Inc., an Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based firm doing business as Stealth Mark, has exclusively licensed an invisible micro-taggant from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The anticounterfeiting technology features a novel materials coding system that uses an infrared marker for identification.

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Two Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers specializing in neutron and chemical science are among 84 recipients of Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards. The Early Career Research Program, now in its ninth year, supports...
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For decades, biologists have believed a key enzyme in plants had one function—produce amino acids, which are vital to plant survival and also essential to human diets. But for Wellington Muchero, Meng Xie and their colleagues, this enzyme does more than advertised. They had run a series of experiments on poplar plants that consistently revealed mutations in a structure of the life-sustaining enzyme that was not previously known to exist.

ORNL’s Tolga Aytug uses thermal processing and etching capabilities to produce a transparent superhydrophobic coating technology. The highly durable, thin coating technology was licensed by Carlex Glass America, aimed initially at advancing superhydrophob
Carlex Glass America LLC has exclusively licensed optically clear, superhydrophobic coating technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory aimed initially at advancing glass products for the automotive sector. ORNL’s development of a...